Syrian rebels Friday took full control the central city of Hama and an airbase located there on the same day their leader, in an interview, said the goal of their lightning offensive is to overthrow President Bashar Assad's government.
Footage recorded Friday showed residents of Hama gathered on the streets to celebrate with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebels.
“Enough is enough! Enough oppression! My father died with a broken heart, my grandfather died with broken heart, it is enough,” one resident told APTN television, “We hope all Syrians will be united to rebuild Syria. Thank God, our joy cannot be expressed.”
Syria’s military said in a statement Thursday it had withdrawn forces from the city center after intense fighting with insurgent forces, marking another major defeat for Assad in the country’s ongoing civil war. The army said it was redeploying its troops outside Hama to protect the city’s civilian population.
News reports Friday said the rebels, comprising Islamist HTS fighters and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, had taken over a series of towns, including Ar Rastan, en route to Syria’s third-largest city, Homs. Thousands have reportedly fled the city in advance of the rebels.
The insurgents’ capture of Aleppo and Hama has reignited a civil war that broke out in the wake of a popular uprising in 2011 and comes as Assad’s allies are preoccupied with their own wars — Russia with its invasion of Ukraine and Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Hamas militants fighting Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and Gaza.
The United Nations and several other countries, including the United States, have designated HTS a terrorist group. But a CNN interview with HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani released Friday presented their fight as a “revolution” to liberate Syria from Assad’s oppression.
Following a meeting Friday in Baghdad with his Iraqi and Syrian counterparts to discuss the situation, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reaffirmed Iran’s support for the Syrian government in its fight against the terrorists, whom he said, “without doubt” were carrying out attacks as “part of an American-Zionist conspiracy.”
Earlier Friday, Reuters reported Iranian officials had said they intend to send missiles and drones to Syria and increase the number of its military advisers there.
At a news briefing at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Friday, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at least 370,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, including 100,000 who left their homes more than once. He said most of the displaced are women and children.
Dujarric also said the fighting in Syria continues to cause severe damage to critical infrastructure, disrupting much-needed aid operations.
Citing local health authorities, Dujarric said hundreds of civilians are estimated to have been killed or injured over the past week — although, he added, the situation is highly fluid and exact casualty figures have yet to be confirmed.
VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
